TEHRAN – The number of Palestinians has increased as a result of Israeli lockdowns and ruthless attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Palestinian Health Ministry reported Monday that 60 people have been killed and more than 340 have been injured in the last 24 hours alone due to the ongoing Israeli attacks. The province has seen an overall death toll rise to 62,004, with over 156,000 injured since Israel began the war with Gaza on October 7, 2023.
According to Palestinian medical sources, more than 260 Palestinians include more than 110 children – died in Gaza as a result of an artificial hunger and hunger campaign. Israel’s narrowed blockade pushed the enclave onto the brink of widespread starvation.
In late May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a US-Israel-supported aid initiative – was launched amid growing international criticism. However, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that around 2,000 people have been killed trying to access aid since the establishment of the GHF site, and Israeli forces have fired fire on Palestinians seeking food.
Amnesty International denounced Israel on Monday for “running a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
The rights group said, “It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented over the past 22 months to deliberately give Palestinians in Gaza living conditions calculated to result in physical destruction that is part of Israel’s continued genocide against Gaza’s Palestinians over the past 22 months.”
Despite the rise in casualties, Israel continues its military campaign and is about to seize Gaza City. Israeli media reported that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced plans to “evacuate” residents within two months of the expansion of the military operation. Reports show that Israel is debating refugee Palestinians with countries including Indonesia, Somaliland, Uganda, South Sudan and Libya. Critics say they have repeatedly cleansed the Nakba in 1948.
The escalation sparked global protests. On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis called for the end of the war were strikes and demonstrations, warning that a continuous attack on Gaza city could put the lives of prisoners held there at risk. Similar protests have exploded in cities around the world, demanding an end to Israeli military operations and the Palestinian starvation in Gaza.
Just as the world witnesses the suffering of Gaza, the international community must hold Israel accountable for policies that deliberately target Palestinians. The ongoing blockade, attacks on civilians, and the use of hunger as a weapon are not merely secondary damages. These have been calculated measures of oppression and ethnic cleansing. Gaza justice requires ending the profession, lifting the siege and defending the basic human rights of Palestinians before more lives are lost.